The Grand Rapids Police Department’s use of K9s is in step with Office of Public Accountability (OPA) recommendations but lacks written policies to prescribe them, a probe of department policy found.
Brandon Davis, OPA managing director, presented his office’s report on GRPD K9 policy at a Tuesday public safety committee meeting. His report compared GRPD’s written policy with other peer cities and national best practices.
“When you look at the written policy and those practices together, you see something that feels pretty robust,” said Davis. “But if you look at the written policy alone, you say there is some space to add to this and make it better.”
OPA considered 10 benchmarking factors, which include whether K9 apprehension is considered a use of force, what crimes warrant K9 deployment, and whether there are restrictions to deploying K9s on vulnerable individuals, such as juveniles, the elderly, and people with mental illness.
Written policies already require the department to warn suspects prior to deploying K9 officers, to document when officers fail to warn suspects, to write bite incident reports which are reviewed by other GRPD units, to report every use of K9s, and to recall a K9 after a suspect is in custody or no longer a threat. After speaking with Interim Chief Joe Trigg, Davis said the department already practices nine of the 10 recommendations.
GRPD officers report K9 apprehension as use of force, follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Graham v. Connor for minimum standards for K9 apprehensions, and consider a suspect’s status as a vulnerable person when making decisions about use of force. The department also tracks demographic data in use of force reports and uses the “bite-and-hold” techniques when training its K9s.
Nine law enforcement agencies were selected for comparison. OPA chose five of the peers, and GRPD chose the remaining four.
The nine recommendations for GRPD’s written policy include classifying K9 apprehension as a use of force; narrowing the use of K9s to serious felonies, not just flight; creating protections for vulnerable groups; expanding public reporting; standardizing the warning language used; requiring a supervisor’s approval before deployment; mandating review of any bites by the Internal Affairs Unit; specifying that GRPD uses “bite-and-hold” techniques; and including demographic data in reporting K9 apprehensions.
The decision to adopt the recommendations as written policy lies with the GRPD chief. Trigg will respond to the recommendations in a July meeting.
After the meeting, Trigg said the only recommendation he questions is requiring supervisor approval prior to K9 deployment.
“The job is so dynamic, and I don’t know if it would be good for our community or for our K9 program if we had that,” Trigg said.
Both Davis and Trigg highlighted the positive working relationship between the department and OPA.
“Since (Trigg) has been interim chief, I have greatly appreciated his willingness to listen to the recommendations of the OPA. I think that he listens in a way that I haven’t experienced previously,” Davis said.
“I believe in oversight. I am proud of our agency, and we have nothing to hide. I’m willing to have any tough conversation,” Trigg said.
Numerous committee members thanked Davis and his office for the report, calling it thorough and well-researched. Committee members asked Trigg about observing K9 training sessions, where K9 units are trained to bite, and the frequency of training.
The dogs are trained to bite certain areas of the body, Trigg said. Their handlers, who wear a protective bodysuit while training, have no coverage around their faces, because the dogs are not trained to bite the face. K9s are trained weekly.
This policy review follows the fatal shooting of Da’Quain Johnson, 32, by a Grand Rapids police officer. Johnson was apprehended by a K9 before he was shot. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker declined to press charges against the officer in early April.
GRPD deployed a K9 in another officer-involved shooting in May. A GRPD officer fatally shot the suspect, Eddie Deans Jr., after he allegedly charged an officer.